A history of automation in Salesforce.
Salesforce automation is crucial if you’re looking to get the most out of your platform.
Minimise manual process, reduce user error and stay on top of sales pipelines – all achievable with proper configuration of your Salesforce org.
This blog is an introduction to the different out-of-the-box features that are offered, their history, and just some of the ways in which Inardua can help your business increase their efficiency.
Workflow
First up: Workflow, which has been around from Day-1.
An easy to use tool to automate your internal business processes.
Simply, it can be broken into two main components the “If” and the “Then”, that is if the criteria is true then carry out a specified action.
The actions that can be executed by a workflow are:
Update a field
Create a task
Send an email
Send an outbound message
As an example, you could create a Workflow Rule that states if the value of an Opportunity deal reaches the stage of Closed Won and is over £1,000,000 then a Workflow Action automates the sending of an email to a Sales Manager.
However, perhaps the only real advantage of Workflow over Process Builder is the ease of sending outbound emails.
Process Builder
Which brings us nicely on to Process Builder.
This originally came along in Beta form in the Winter 2015 release before becoming generally available in Spring 2015.
This tool gives Admins much more power. Because as well as everything a Workflow can do (bar send outbound messages), they can also:
Create Records
Update Related Records
Launch Quick Actions
Post to Chatter
Launch Flows
Call Apex Code
Submit a record for Approval
Invoke another Process
So how does this help you in a real life situation?
If you take our previous example of an Opportunity reaching the stage of Closed Won and having a value of over £1,000,000, then in addition to simply emailing a Sales Manager you could post the news to Chatter, submit the Opportunity for Approval, and create a future Opportunity.
A much wider range of actions extends the capability of your processes, and means clearer internal communication and more efficiency of the back of your Salesforce automation.
Process Builder is a useful tool with many use cases, however it is limited to scenarios that fit within the ‘if this then that’ framework.
Flow
To truly get the most out of your Salesforce platform with maximum flexibility and efficiency in your automation – we need to talk about Salesforce Flow.
First, a bit of background.
Back in 2012 Cloud Flow Designer was released but was entirely Flash dependent. And then, in 2019, Flow Builder replaced this as a non-Flash alternative.
Flow Builder is a declarative tool which allows you to automate complex business processes using ‘click-not-code' and is by far the most powerful of the tools discussed in this post.
There are five categories of Flow:
Screen Flow: initiated through a Button or Action, Screen Flows take the User through on-screen questions or text, and information inputted will determine the next action.
Schedule-Triggered Flow: these run regularly, at specified times and frequencies.
Auto-launched Flow: these can be invoked from a Process Builder, from within an Apex Class, or from Record Changes.
Record Triggered Flow: these run automatically when records are updated or created.
Platform Event-Triggered Flow: these are triggered when a Platform Event message is received.
As an example, we will look at my personal favourite, the Screen Flow.
When a customer calls, a Service Rep will be able to follow on-screen guidance, telling them what to say to the customer, and giving advice for specific required fields.
Service Reps input information based on the customer’s response and the Screen Flow will continue to guide the rep through required information based on the customer’s response.
Once all relevant information is collected the Screen Flow can conclude by triggering all manner of actions.
Create a Case record, an Opportunity, or both; send relevant product information to the customer; create a follow up task for the Service Rep – Flows are as flexible as your business processes require them to be – and ensure internal efficiency and great customer experience.
Future of Automation
In Summer 2020 it was announced that Flows are the recommended no code option for automation on the platform.
This does present questions for organisations that have been utilising Process Builder or Workflow up to this point.
What about all the workflows and processes that are an integral part of our salesforce platforms? What is the future of Flow? What are the limitations?
Well, Salesforce are saying they won’t be getting rid of Process Builder or Workflow for a “while”, so immediate action isn’t required.
However, wherever possible we’d recommend adapting to Flow, and even looking at migrating existing Processes and Workflows into new Flows.
Here are a couple of reasons to get behind the Flow movement:
1) Future proof your platform. Process Builder and Workflow might not be gone just yet, but they won't be supported forever, so to give yourself a durable, flexible and best-in-class set-up it’s time to adopt Flow
2) Flow allows for greater depth of automation. Where Process Builder will be limited to creating just a single record as part of an automation, Flow can create and update many, many more - whilst also featuring a wider array of actions, and the ability to incorporate numerous different Objects when running.
3) Whilst Salesforce have said that they will continue supporting the functions of Process Builder and Workflow, no further investments will be made into these, instead they will be focusing efforts on improving Flow only.
If your business is spending time on repetitive tasks and processes then Inardua would love to advise on how we could implement automation for your business, just get in touch.